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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
[Carano Art Credit - Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
-We're ready to go. I find it humorous that Showtime puts up the content label for adult language but not for violence.
-Good opening video to highlight Carano and Cyborg in the main event. Hopefully this fight comes out a great one like we all hope it can.
-Gus Johnson is back on play-by-play tonight. They show both Carano and Cyborg entering the building earlier in the day before Johnson introduces the card. He brings in Mauro Ranallo and they discuss the signing of Fedor Emelianenko. Ranallo calls him the "most important acquisition in Strikeforce history." Frank Shamrock is once again the third man in the booth. He really should have gone with Invisalign.
FIGHT ONE: FABRICIO WERDUM VS. MIKE KYLE (HEAVYWEIGHT)
ROUND ONE: Werdum lands a couple of punches to start. Kyle stalks him down and Werdum throws a kick. Kyle comes at him again and Werdum lands a flurry. He shoots in for a takedown and Kyle holds him off. Kyle comes in and lands a couple of good punches as Werdum shoots in. Werdum gets the take down and throws a couple of good shot at Kyle. Kyle throws up for an armbar but Werdum gets out of it. Kyle scrambles and then Werdum grabs hold of a guillotine and drops to guard. Kyle tries to fight it off but he holds on and forces Kyle to tap.
WINNER: Werdum via submission (guillotine) at 1:24 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Werdum said he trained hard. He apologized for his English and said he loves America as he lives here now. He just said he's happy tonight. He basically just thanks his trainers and says he's happy with the win. He says he'll fight anybody, he's training and he'll fight anyone.
STAR RATING: (**) Good showing from Werdum and an expected submission finish. Kyle landed a couple of solid punches in there before it went to the ground, but Werdum did what he needed to do here.
-They went to a backstage interview with Carano. She said she had a tough training camp but she feels confident now that she's put herself through hell. She said she plans to stick to her gameplan and keep her wits about her. Randy Couture came in and said he thinks Gina's ready. She's done all the work and now it's time to have some fun.
FIGHT TWO: GILBERT MELENDEZ VS. MITSUHIRO ISHIDA (INTERIM LIGHTWEIGHT TITLE)
PRE FIGHT: Melendez says he may have underestimated Ishida's speed and takedowns in their first fight. Ishida says this time there will be no chance for a decision. Melendez says fighting at home makes him want to put on a great show.
ROUND ONE: Ishida lands the first strike with a leg kick. He shoots in and Melendez quickly sprawls and it goes nowhere. Ishida pops in with a straight punch and then has a high kick blocked. Melendez is calmly walking Ishida down and he lands a good right. Ishida bounces around the outside and then shoots in. Melendez sprawls and lands a knee to the face as he brings Ishida back up. Ishida came in and ate a quick flurry from Melendez. Ishida lands a leg kick and Melendez unleashes a four punch combo. Ishida misses a leg kick and eats a counter punch. Ishida lands a left punch and Melendez counters with a big left hook of his own. Nice counter punch. Ishida pops in quickly for the single leg and Melendez tries to hold him off. Ishida gets him down and Melendez gives up his back. Ishida slips off and Melendez scrambled. He grabbed the double legs and takes Ishida down. Ishida tries to hold onto Melendez against the cage and Melendez threw some knees to the leg of Ishida as the round came to an end.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Melendez. He landed some good shots on the feet and negated Ishida's takedown with one of his own.
ROUND TWO: Melendez lands a counter punch early. Ishida comes in and they trade punches. Melendez lands a good left jab that pops Ishida's head back. Melendez keeps the center of the cage as Ishida circles on the outside. Ishida shoots in for the single leg again and Melendez sprawls nicely. They stand up and clinch on the cage. Melendez lands some knees to the thigh of Ishida. Melendez lands a good knee to the body and a big punch before he sprawls another takedown attempt from Ishida. Ishida lands a leg kick and again eats a couple of counter shots. Ishida lands a good left. Melendez walks him down and lands a ton of shots against the cage before Ishida shoots in. Melendez sprawls and unleashes a ton of punches as Ishida holds onto his arm. Ishida popped up and Melendez grabbed him and took him down. He nearly took Ishida's back and Ishida tried to walk up the cage. Melendez holds off another shot from Ishida and Melendez starts throwing knees to the body against the cage. Ishida works back to his feet and Melendez throws a ton of body shots as Ishida tries to punch him off. They finally separate with little time left in the round. Ishida throws a kick that Melendez catches and tosses him to the ground as the round ends.
Penick's Scorecard: 10-9 Melendez. This is all Melendez right now. He's outworking Ishida in the stand up game and he's getting him to the ground when he wants.
ROUND THREE: Melendez takes the center of the cage again to start this round. They trade a couple of jabs early in the third here. Ishida lands a couple of punches and Melendez counters. Melendez lands a leg kick and Ishida gets off a combo. Melendez shoots and Ishida stuffs it. Ishida with a leg kick and eats a counter punch. The action slows a bit as they're trying to feel out the range a bit more. Melendez lands a good jab. Ishida kick gets countered again. Melendez stuffs a takedown attempt and lands a flurry that knocks Ishida down. He lands a bunch of shots on the ground before Ishida holds onto him to survive. Melendez postures up and lands a couple of big shots. Ishida gives up his back and Melendez pounces. He's landing a bunch of shots and tries to grab a choke. Ishida rolls over and Melendez starts landing punches again. Ishida won't give up the choke so Melendez starts pounding him out and lands a bunch of shots to the side of Ishida's head and the ref finally stops it. Excellent victory for Gilbert Melendez.
WINNER: Melendez via TKO at 3:56 of the third round.
POST FIGHT: Melendez said he just needed to be patient in this fight. He said Jake Shields told him "I know the crowd is booing now but when you knock him out they'll cheer." He says he doesn't want the Interim belt, Josh Thomson is the Champ and he wants to fight him. He thanks his family and friends as well as the fans.
STAR RATING: (***) Great performance from Melendez. He was simply better than Ishida in every aspect in this one, severely outstriking him and not allowing Ishida to get the takedown on him at all. It was a great finish as well. Melendez landed 104 shots to Ishida's 21. Good fight.
-They go backstage to an interview with Cris Cyborg. She says she's the favorite coming in because of all her hard work. She says her cardio was never a problem and she's ready for the five minute rounds. She says outside pressure isn't a problem because when she gets in the cage it's just her and Gina.
PRE FIGHT: Sobral says he doesn't fight for money anymore, he fights because he loves it. He says the fight will not go the distance. Mousasi says he wants to knock Babalu out.
ROUND ONE: They trade simultaneous leg kicks to start. Sobral throws a couple of early punches. Sobral catches a body kick and Mousasi ends up taking him down and getting into side control. Sobral tries to get out and get it to his guard but Mousasi pummels him with a furious assault and the fight is over just like that. Wow.
WINNER: Mousasi via TKO at 1:00 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: He said he wanted to stand up, but if could take it to the ground he would. He said there was pressure from his first fight in the U.S. but in the end he was relaxed and was feeling really good. He said he trained really hard and he knew he was ready coming into the fight.
STAR RATING: (***) Just a shockingly quick finish from Mousasi. That was impressive as all hell, because he not only took the fight to the ground himself but showed why he's such a great striker. The way he was able to get those rights through to Sobral on the ground was great, and it was simply a great win for the new Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion.
-Mauro Ranallo brought in Jake Shields cageside for an interview. He said he was extremely impressed by Mousasi. He says he wants the biggest fights and right now it seems those are at Middleweight, so he'll stay there for now, but he added he wouldn't mind holding two belts. Then Ranallo brought in Andre Ward to discuss the Super Six tournament for the Super Middleweights in boxing.
-They run a Fedor promo with a list of names he's defeated along with video of his knockout of Andrei Arlovski.
MAIN EVENT FIGHT FOUR: GINA CARANO VS. CRISTIANE "CYBORG" SANTOS (WOMEN'S 145 LB. TITLE)
PRE FIGHT: Ranallo and Johnson discuss history being made here. Ranallo runs down both women's brief careers. Shamrock says it's "chin-check time" for the ladies. Shamrock narrates the keys to the cage for both women and it's time for our main event of. In the prefight video, Carano said she's never gone along with what people have said she should do. Cyborg says she never thought she'd be fighting for a belt in America. She says it's going to be one of the greatest fights ever. Gina said she's going to have to do whatever she has to do to win the fight. She says she wants to walk away from it knowing she left it all in the cage.
ROUND ONE: Big Gina chants to start. Carano stalks Gina down. Gina lands a punch and Cyborg lands a ton of punches. Gina is backed up to the cage and she drops onto Cyborg. Cyborg grabs a heel hook and almost has it locked in. Gina gets out and scrambles. Gina works her way to the feet and they trade shots. Carano gets a takedown and gets right to the mount. SHe lands a couple of shots and then Cyborg gets her off. Cyborg pops back to her feet. Gina lands a kick and a punch and Cyborg lands a right hand. Cyborg catches a body kick and lands a couple of punches. Gina gave up her back on the feet. She tried to roll through for a lef and Cyborg backed away. Carano got back to her feet. She landed a superwoman punch as they'll call it. Cyborg comes forward again and pushes her hand into Carano's face and pushes her down. They may have gassed themselves already. Cyborg stalks her down with a couple of shots. Carano looks really tired already. They clinch on the cage and Cyborg takes Gina down with a minute left. Carano tries to hold onto her. Cyborg grabs for an Americana and Carano gets out of it. Cyborg throws some punches from the top. Cyborg pops up and lands some tough shots from the top and starts throwing a ton of shots from the top. Gina curls up and Cyborg continues the assault as the round is coming to a close. The referee pops in as the buzzer goes off and it appears Cyborg has won this fight. The crowd is booing and there's a little confusion because it was at the last split second of the round. The fight is officially done.
WINNER: Cyborg via TKO at 4:59 of the first round.
POST FIGHT: Cyborg thanks Carano for the opportunity for this fight and she thanks the fans as well. She said she knew from the beginning this fight would be hard and she gave Gina credit.
STAR RATING: (***) It was made more exciting by the crowd reaction to it, but this was Carano trying to survive after gassing three minutes in. Cyborg proved to be too strong at the end with those punches and Carano couldn't handle anymore on the ground in that last minute. She kept it fairly even until then, and may have won it had she been able to keep that mount position, but this was Cyborg's night.
-Carano was getting checked by medical staff and was unavailable for a post fight interview. The announcers wrapped up the show and that's all we get, not even a two hour event tonight.
-It was a quick night of fights tonight, and not quite up to what I'm sure many had hoped for. Cris Cyborg picked up a huge win and becomes the first Women's Champion for Strikeforce, and Gegard Mousasi made his U.S. debut in style with a great early TKO of "Babalu," but it was a total of five rounds of action on this night, so not a whole lot of fighting going on. I'm not sure that the main event lived up to the bill, but it was a good back and forth fight until the last two minutes. Had Gina gotten out of that round she didn't have much left in the tank to continue. Thank you everyone for checking in once again for this live round by round update, stick around for our fallout coverage this week from this event and then ahead as we move on to UFC 102 at the end of the month.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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